


Stolen Thunder

by Merit



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Gen, Minor Violence, Pirates, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 04:32:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1455469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merit/pseuds/Merit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Tris was nine she was kidnapped by pirates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stolen Thunder

When Tris was nine she disappeared from her home. She had been staying with a second cousin, who reported the news to her parents. He suggested she had run back home. After that he considered his duty done. There was so sign of Tris, however. Her parents only felt relief, relief that their bothersome, cursed daughter would no longer cause trouble to the House Chandler. They reported it to the appropriate authorities, of course, they didn’t want to fall under suspicion, but shrugged their shoulders when the authorities couldn’t find Tris.

Tris heard snatches of this on the wind and cried into her old brown dress. The pirate, who had kidnapped her, who called himself Toma, slapped her across the face and Tris froze. While she had been harshly treated by her family, they had seldom beaten her. The pirate grinned, his teeth yellow and reeking of something rotten.

“No tears now,” he said, hand resting easy on his sword and even when the ship they were on rocked to and fro, his hand never budged from his sword. “A mage doesn’t need all their pretty limbs to perform magic.” Tris swallowed heavily and nodded. Her family would really have no use for her if she couldn’t clean for them.

“But I’m not a mage,” she whispered. “They had me tested and nothing was ever found,” she hung her head expecting to be slapped again but the pirate merely chuckled.

“Your parents were fools, girl,” he said and he sounded pleased, “You’re a mage just like I’m a pirate. I can sniff these things out. Mages always smell different from non-mages. My nose never lies to me,” Toma said oily, tapping his short nose. He looked at her like she was a good, to be polished and sold. It scared Tris.

She bit her lip, still not able to believe that she had magic. “They say I’m possessed,” she said, trying to be threatening but her voice was wavering and chin wobbled. “I have demons inside me!”

Toma laughed again. It sent chills down Tris’ spine and she cowered away from the pirate. “Nonsense,” the pirate said, too good naturedly for it to be real, “Now you sit here like a good girl and keep your mouth shut. No one on this ship likes a crying child.”

He walked her past the slaves. They were skinny and stared ahead as if death would be preferable. There were harsh red marks on their backs and their hands were cracked from hard labor and the stinging salt sea spray. The pirate spat at the slaves as they walked past. It hit a slave in the face but the slave didn’t even flinch. He would have been handsome once, Tris thought, before they carved his ears off. She shivered and the waves started to rise, slapping against the ship.

The pirate smiled widely. “Don’t think you’re better than a gallery slave,” he said, and even with the wind rising higher and higher, his foul breath wafted over her. She wrinkled her nose. They went below deck and Tris blinked rapidly as shadows dominated over light. “You’re a slave now and you’ll do as I tell you. There’s some very important people who want to see you,” he said, eyes bright. “And they’ll be paying me a pretty coin for the privilege.”

After that he blindfolded Tris and tied her hands together. He left her there and returned to the deck. Tris wanted to escape. She even tried finding the magic he said was inside of her. She didn’t feel anything. Tris started to cry.

She did so silently because she didn’t want any pirates to come at slap her. She wasn’t sure how long she was kept under the deck. Every now and then they would give her food. She heard snickers when she tried to put awful, awful gruel in her mouth and slid down her chin. She was just glad no one was there when she tried to relieve herself in a bucket.

Inside however, Tris had let go of tears. She had embraced anger. The rage roared inside her.

Outside of the ship, the waves rose and the blue sky quickly became covered in dark grey clouds. Lightning struck the water three times in quick succession.

It’s happening again, Tris thought dully. She heard crashes and curses up above on the desk. The ship rolled sharply left and Tris was tossed to the other side of the small room. She landed with a thud and grunted with pain. Was this her magic? She wondered. She had always loved storms. Always felt a frisson of thrill when lightning struck the earth.

She shook her head. It couldn’t be. The old pirate was lying. He probably wanted to confuse her so she wouldn’t fight back. He probably wanted to ransom her off to her parents. The Chandlers were a very wealthy family. Tris smiled bitterly. He would be lucky to get more than three copper agrib and only if her mother was in a good mood.

Tris struggled to a sitting position. She wished, terribly, that what the pirate was true. If she had magic, like a few of her cousins, the family would have been willing to ignore even tolerate some of things that happened around of her. If she had been a great mage, oh, they would have respected her. They wouldn’t have let her get kidnapped, she thought, hot tears falling down her face. She bit her lip and shook her head, red curls slapping her damp cheeks. The movement dislodged the blindfold and it slipped down Tris’ face.

I want to be free, she thought, anger building inside of her. I don’t want smelly pirates telling me what to do, she added, curls dancing around her round cheeks. Under the deck, lightning crackled and swept through her curls. I don’t want them harming those slaves, she thought, grey eyes remembering how defeated looking the slaves had seemed.

Her hands felt hot and when Tris looked down fire was creeping through the knots. She stared with wonder, the fire licking her skin and it should have hurt but Tris only felt elation. She shook her hands and the burned ropes fell to the floor. Tris stood up, eyes bright behind her spectacles. She adjusted them and walked up to the deck.

Outside it was chaos. Pirates were running back and forth, yelling nastily. Sometimes a wave would wash over the deck, seemingly grabbing a pirate by the ankle and dragging him deep under sea. The sky was afire with lightning and everything shook when thunder rattled. Tris frowned when she saw a pirate whipping the gallery slaves. She raised her hand a gust of wind grasped the whip out of his hand. It sunk into the ocean, the blood from the whip lingering on the surface for a moment before disappearing into the ocean.

The power inside her grew. She grinned broadly and wondered why no one had told her magic was supposed to feel like _this_. She felt the power of the waves, the thunder roaring and most of the crack of lightning. Tris raised her arms in the air, just to be close to madcap lightning and thunder.

She blinked when she felt a footstep. She opened her eyes looked around her. The pirates were gathering around her, faces cruel, and faces terrified, hands on their weapons. The water raged around them, slamming against the right side of the ship. A pirate lost his balance and slipped, hitting the side of a ship hard and flopping against the ground. He didn’t move after that. Tris didn’t spare him another glance.

Toma walked in front of her. To Tris’ surprise he was laughing. “See, see?” He said, waving his hands around. “I told you she was powerful. My nose never lies, little girl,” he said, tapping his nose. The wind rose, screaming shrilly, pieces of wood and other seafaring items flying through the air, until they smashed against the deck and the ocean. Toma grinned, though, “I noticed your eyes, little girl. I have two men ready to slit the throats of all the slaves. Now. You don’t want that, do you?”

Tris hesitated, the wind and the water calmed a little and the lightning no longer lit up the grey skies. As much as she wanted those pirates dead, dead and gone, she didn’t want to harm the slaves. They hadn’t done anything wrong, Tris thought, they just had the bad luck of being taken by slavers. Tris hung her head and Toma chuckled. He even turned his back on her. Tris gritted her teeth and swore to herself that she wouldn’t cry. She would escape, she would, but she would do it without hurting anyone.

It was raining now, cool and light, very different from the raging storm from just a few minutes ago. The pirates ignored her as they went about her duties. She did notice a few of them making the god’s circle on their chest as they walked past her. Tris smiled at that, bitter and nastily. Even cursed pirates would pray when they were afraid, she reflected. She sighed. It was if her bones ached she was so tired. She was so consumed with her thoughts that she didn’t noticed the frenzied pace of the pirates until one slammed into her. Tris fell to the ground with a thud and glared at the pirate. He backed away, eyes wide with fear.

“What’s happening?” She snapped.

He looked like he didn’t want to answer her. She stamped her foot and he jumped back, blond hair flapping sillily against his forehead. How old was he? She speculated. Older than her, old enough that he should know better, she thought, her heart turning stony against him.

“Ships have been spotted,” he said, bowing in front of her. “Many of them.”

“Oh?” Tris asked, her voice like daggers. “And why aren’t you fleeing? Or attacking them? I thought that is what pirates _did_.”

“The ship can barely move,” he wailed, “Half our men were gone in, in the storm. The ship is damaged and the winds favor them.”

Tris squinted against the sun and thought she could spot several fast moving ships sailing swiftly to the pirate’s ship. The air around the pirate’s ship was calm. There was only enough to rustle Tris’ red curls. She slid her spectacles further up her long nose. This was her doing, she thought, watching the sea barely move. Wasn’t it?

“Enough staring,” Toma snapped, abruptly appearing by her shoulder. Tris looked at him unenthusiastically. “You’re a witch. I saw your magic. Now,” and he grinned mean, “Time to work.”

The slaves were watching her, Tris thought. They stared at her with brown and grey and green eyes. They didn’t expect her to save her, but they wanted her to. Tris looked away and swallowed. She coughed, her throat dry. Tris felt weak down to her toes.

“I would if I could,” she muttered, fingers digging into her warms. They were going to leave bloody crescents.

“Could?” Toma roared. “You will!” He shoved her and Tris fell against the ship.

She sat there for a few moments, rubbing her tailbone. She had felt magic, Tris thought, mind frantically trying to come up with a solution. She peeked over the shoulders. This close she could see the flags of the ships snapping in the wind. She blinked. How on earth could they have managed to get so close?

Toma was cursing. Cursing mimanders who caught winds in knots. Tris nodded to herself. Of course! She was an idiot for forgetting Traders. Mila knew that her family had spent enough time bad mouthing them.

The pirates were rallying in the center of ship but they looked fairly dispirited. The blond man who Tris had been speaking to earlier was weeping and Tris probably could have knocked his sword out of his hand, he was holding it so loosely. Toma had two bright red spots on his cheeks and he was roaring at his people, the slaves, at Tris, even himself. It created a confusion the pirates could ill spare. The ships surrounded the pirate gallery.

Grim faced soldiers lined the other ships, swords at their hips and bows in their hands.

With a wail, the blond haired pirate fell to his knees and cried surrender. The other pirates reluctantly followed. Tomo screamed at them, calling them no co cowards but they all looked sullenly at their boots until he sank to his knees as well. With a fierce cry he drove his sword into the desk. It was a stupid thing to do, Tris thought. Now if you wanted to fight you didn’t even have a weapon.

Tris stood off to the side as the soldiers stormed the ship and took the pirates into custody. She looked down, threading her fingers. This was undoubtedly a very expensive operation. There was no way her parents were behind her rescue. Tris looked up. Emelan’s flag snapped in the wind from all the ships. Tris’ fine red brow rose. She didn’t think they sailed this far west. She shrugged. Diplomacy was never her strong suit. They probably had reasons, she considered. No one on the Pebbled Sea _liked_ pirates. But without a good cleanse of Battle Islands there was always going to _be_ pirates.

She started when a man settled beside her. Tris gave him a suspicious look. He was well dressed, with a heavy gold earring in one ear and his boots were well polished. He gave off the appearance of a well fed cat. Their eyes met and Tris glared. Well, she added critically, a cat with very sharp claws. She huffed and folded her arms across her chest.

The man smiled. “My name is Niko - Niklaren Goldeye. I am a mage,” he said. Tris remained silent. There were a lot of people who _called_ themselves mages. Some of them could barely cast a basic fire spell. Niko sighed. “I understand this has been difficult for you, Trisana.”

“Difficult?” Tris snapped, face growing red as her anger built. Without her knowledge lightning cracked and spat in the hair. Several soldiers nervously eyed the pair. “Getting kidnapped by slaving pirates is more than difficult!” Suddenly what the man said hit her. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Niko. “Now do you know my name?” She demanded.

“I saw you in a vision,” Niko said which didn’t make Tris any calmer. A wave slapped against the ship. “Stop that,” he ordered and Tris started, walking back a step. The sea calmed. “I had a vision,” he repeated, “Of a redheaded girl with magic. You were in danger,” he shrugged his shoulders, eyes dark under his heavy black brows. “I didn’t find you in time. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t have magic,” Tris said, but even to her, it felt like she was lying. “My parents had me tested. Multiple times. Even by the best mage in Ninver,” she said, fair brows rising in a pointed arch. “People don’t cross Chandler. The mages testers wouldn’t have lied.”

Niko sighed, rubbing his temples. “Have you heard of ambient magic, Trisana?”

Her eyes lit up. Tris liked learning about new things. But she didn’t want to be seen _wanting_ things from Niko. “No,” she crossed her arms and looked over the sea. There was going to be a storm soon, she thought.

“Most mages have to build up magic within them, they are known as academic mages and study at Lightsbridge and other great universities,” Niko said. “I myself attended Lightsbridge.”

“I have a cousin at Lightsbridge,” Tris said. He had been considered talented enough to attend one of the greatest magical learning centres in the world. Other cousins, less gifted, had been sent to lesser universities or apprenticed to mages friendly with the Chandlers.

“Ambient mages draw magic from their surrounds. A stone mage, the most common sort, draws their magic from rocks. A plant mages draws magic from – ”

“Plants,” Tris said, rolling her eyes. “I _get_ it.” She hated when adults presumed she was stupid just because she was young.

“Then what do you draw your magic from?” Niko said.

The breeze lifted her curls, blowing them around her face as Tris frowned. She remembered how angry she had been, how the storm had been so beautiful, raging with her. “Weather,” she whispered. Tris sagged and Niko reached over quickly to steady her.

“Are you alright?” He asked. He looked like he cared, Tris thought. Which was silly because he had just met her and who cared about a stranger?

“Fine,” she said, drawing to full and unimpressive height. “ _Fine_. My parents will be very pleased,” she said, grimacing. It was true. Her parents would be very pleased. Their troublesome, hated daughter might be _useful_ now.

Niko watched her silently. “Lightsbridge is no place for a child,” he said and Tris instantly bristled. Niko held up a hand, an apology on his smile. “Trust me. Some of the rumors about mages are true and it would be best to wait till you’re older if you wanted to attend,” he rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful. “Have you heard of Winding Circle?”

“Of course,” Tris said grumpily. “It is the greatest of the Living Circles temples.”

“Then there will be no shame in going there,” Niko said, smiling broadly. “It has a more tolerant learning environment that might be more suitable for you.”

Tris hesitated. “I’m not sure what my parents will say,” she said quietly. What she meant was she wasn’t sure if her parents would _pay_. Chandlers didn’t like placing down coin unless they were sure they would get back her investment.

Niko waved a hand as if they were no problems at all. “I can be very persuasive,” he said, smiling down at her. Tris stared at him for several seconds before her gaze flicked to the soldiers who were gently leading the slaves onto the Emelanese ships.

“What will happen to them?” Tris asked quietly.

“Oh? The soldiers will see where the slaves are from, whether they would like to go home – some would have been sold into slavery,” he said gently but Tris just nodded. “The ships are headed back to Summersea. More will be done there.”

“I’ll go then,” Tris said. There would be no point in going back to her parents. They would complain and fuss and side eye Niko. If she sent them a letter from Winding Circle it would be more difficult for them to back out since she was already _there_. “I can help them,” Tris said, watching a skinny slave stumble as he made his way across to an Emelanese ship. “If I can?”

Niko nodded. “Of course. Winding Circle is only a short ride from Summersea.”

Tris smiled, brittle and tired. This was her chance to be needed, she thought. They wouldn’t know who she _was_.

“And of course we shall have to find you a teacher,” Niko said thoughtfully.

Tris ignored him. It would probably be some old stick in the mud, she considered. Right now she had more important things to do. With that, Tris headed over to the soldiers and asked if there was anything she could do.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for trope_bingo, for the space 'slavefic'.


End file.
